Los Vaqueros Watershed

Diversity rules at Los Vaqueros, where you can test your mettle on one of the most calf-burning, lung-rasping climbs in the Bay Area – and of one of the area’s most placid canyon strolls. From the Vista Grande summit you can see a hundred miles across Central Valley to the purple ripple of the Sierra – and from the heart of Mariposa Canyon watch a stream pirouette past rocks and tree roots, carving a path between hillsides spattered by the yellows and violets of buttercups and shooting stars. You can hook striped bass in the Reservoir and watch golden eagles soar above the Black Hills.